- Felix K links up with Blackest Ever Black for his first full release (under his best-known alias, at least) since the excellent Flowers Of Destruction LP from 2013. Tragedy Of The Commons is a step away from the Berlin stalwart's usual style of deep, tech-y drum & bass toward more subdued sounds. Still, it brims with dystopian moods that should be familiar to fans.
"Tragedy Of The Commons" stretches across 17 minutes, as Felix K fully indulges his ambient tendencies. Very slowly emerging from silence, it's a foggy, introspective affair, laced with reverb-drenched field recordings and long, uneasy stirrings as it moves through different spaces. There are a few crucial bits of rhythm: a doleful arpeggio at first, pulsing low-end triplets later and finally a single soft click. The B-side creeps into techno mode with the 65-BPM vignette "Silent Money." Understated 3/4 drums and drawn-out basslines carry it, while dubwise vocals and a few lonely synth figures float into the mix.
The tempo doubles on Onar Anxiety's remix of "Fundamentals." This one reminds me of Regis, in particular his own Blackest Ever Black track "Blood Witness"—might Onar Anxiety be another Felix K alias? Either way, it's a deep, fiery cut of broken-beat techno, which finishes this adventurous EP on a confrontational note.
TracklistA1 Tragedy of the Commons
B1 Silent Money
B2 Fundamentals (Onar Anxiety Remix)